Hear Here: Speech-Language-Hearing Center Serves Campus

President Mark Huddleston responds to sounds during a recent hearing screening at the Speech-Language-Hearing Center located In Hewitt Hall.

Hearing screenings, like the one President Mark Huddleston had earlier this week, are routine for UNH’s Speech-Language-Hearing Center but routine doesn’t mean unimportant.

That simple, under-10-minutes test is the starting point in determining hearing loss. (The president has none.)

“If someone isn’t having any problems and passes the screening, there really isn’t any reason to have further diagnostics done,” says Mary Jane Sullivan, clinical assistant professor in the department of communication sciences and disorders, and an audiologist.

President Huddleston had the hearing screening to promote May Is Better Hearing and Speech Month.

The Speech-Language-Hearing Centeroffers state-of-the-art diagnostic audiology and speech and language services to individuals of all ages.Graduate students in the department of communication sciences and disorders administer hearing screenings under the close supervision of faculty who are state licensed and nationally certified speech language pathologists or audiologists.

Graduate student Helen Straus did the screening on the president.

“I looked to see that the ear canal was clear and at middle ear function via a procedure called tympanometry,” Straus says. “I also checked the responses for puretones which represents one’s hearing ability.

The screening results are reported as either “pass or refer.”

“If they pass, their hearing is functional. If they’re referred, we don’t
know what kind of issue they have until further diagnostic testing is done,” Sullivan says.

The teaching center is located in Hewitt Hall and includes a sound booth and six individual treatment rooms equipped with audio-video equipment to record therapy sessions. Five treatment rooms have adjacent observation rooms allowing clinical supervisors, family members and students to watch sessions via a one-way mirror.